


Just a Crack In Your Armour

by KaelinaLovesLomaris



Series: Whumptober 2019 - FFXV [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hostage Situations, Hurt Ignis Scientia, Hurt Noctis Lucis Caelum, Hurt/Comfort, Video Game Mechanics, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21752908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaelinaLovesLomaris/pseuds/KaelinaLovesLomaris
Summary: Ignis is held at gunpoint to get Noctis to surrender.Part of my collection of Whumptober 2019 prompts.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Series: Whumptober 2019 - FFXV [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1505405
Comments: 6
Kudos: 111





	Just a Crack In Your Armour

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 Prompt: Gunpoint

It was taking Noctis longer to get ready than Ignis would probably like, as usual. To be honest, Noctis was dragging his feet a little bit on purpose, not at all thrilled about the state dinner he was getting ready for. He hated the overly formal clothes, the small talk he would be required to participate in, the cameras, the expectations. He was already irritable from the argument he’d had earlier with his dad about his freedom of movement outside the Citadel, so when Ignis had fussed one time too many about how he had tied his tie, he ordered him out to get the car ready.

Noctis frowned at his reflection. He knew he wasn’t up to Ignis’s, or his dad’s, standards, but it was still too much for him. He didn’t know how his dad did it, dressed in too many layers of stuffy clothing on a daily basis. There were a lot of things he didn’t understand how his dad could handle, and even though he knew he should deal with them because they would be _his_ problems one day, he tended to avoid thinking about them. Mostly because the day he would be forced to confront them would be the day his dad died, and he knew he would never be ready for that.

He shook his head angrily, not wanting to go there. He would have enough on his plate tonight without the added strain of thinking about Regis’s impending death.

Forcing the thoughts out of his mind with practiced strength, he straightened his tie one more time and brushed imaginary dust off the lapels of his too-perfectly-tailored jacket. He shouldn’t keep Ignis waiting any longer. He was probably on the verge of an internal panic attack as it was, and unlike Gladio, Ignis respected Noctis’s orders enough not to come back in and drag him out unless they were _really_ going to be late. And even then he’d just knock.

The street outside Noctis’s apartment was quiet, which wasn’t unusual, but the moment he stepped outside, he knew something was wrong. His eyes darted over to the car. It wasn’t running. Where was Ignis?

Something tugged on his awareness, a sensation not unlike one of his friends drawing on his magic. He turned around just in time to see Ignis being dragged out of the alley next to his apartment building, a stranger’s hand clamped over his mouth and a gun jabbing into his side. Noctis froze.

Ignis’s eyes were somehow calm, but Noctis could see the tension in every line of his body. His jacket was rumpled.

“Hello, Prince Noctis,” the man holding Ignis said. “I was beginning to worry you weren’t going to make an appearance.”

“Let him go,” Noctis snarled. He didn’t draw a weapon, but he felt the magic rise in him, ready to be unleashed in whatever manner he chose.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. He put up quite the fight. I will say this for the line of Lucis, your people are well trained.” Noctis wondered if the man had not originally been working alone. He was sporting a black eye, but even taken by surprise, Ignis could easily do more damage than that.

“What do you want?”

“I think that should be clear.”

“Ignis says I’m dense. Enlighten me.”

_Keep him talking, maybe you can come up with some way to get Ignis away from him._

Noctis bit back a grin at the irritation that sprang to the man’s eyes. He knew he shouldn’t goad someone holding a gun on his friend, but if he could just get the man to aim it at _him_ instead...

“If you value your advisor’s life, you will surrender and come with us.”

 _Us_. So there were more of them somewhere, or else the man was bluffing, or had simply forgotten that Ignis had taken his companions out.

“I don’t think so.”

“Perhaps your _advisor_ can talk some sense into you.” The man removed his hand from over Ignis’s mouth, resting it against Ignis’s throat instead. He didn’t squeeze, but the threat was clear, as if the gun wasn’t enough. Noctis could kill him before he strangled Ignis, but he wasn’t faster than a bullet at point blank.

If the man thought Ignis would plead with him to go along with whatever this man was planning in order to save his own life, he was going to be disappointed. Ignis’s highest priority was Noctis’s well-being. He was more likely to tell Noctis to run.

“Highness…” Ignis warned. It was subtle, he was far better as masking his emotions than Noctis ever would be, but his voice was strained. Noctis wasn’t sure if it was fear for his own safety or fear of what Noctis would do to protect him. Probably a combination.

Noctis knew, had had it impressed upon him again and again, that he was supposed to let his retinue do their jobs in a situation like this. He was supposed to just let them die, let them take the fall for him. Because he was “more important” or some crap like that, despite that Noctis knew he was nothing without Ignis behind him. Ignis kept him grounded. He was the one with a steady head on his shoulders. He always knew what to do, how to handle tough situations. Noctis would be a failure of a king if he didn’t have Ignis to guide him. And even without all that, Noctis cared far too much for Ignis, for any of his friends, to just stand by and let them _die_. Screw the protocols.

“Shut up, Ignis.” Ignis pressed his lips together in disapproval. Noctis knew that look. Ignis gave it to him on a regular basis. When he hadn’t touched his homework or the stack of political reports Ignis had delivered. When he let the dishes and laundry pile up. When he snuck out with Prompto without telling anyone and came home past midnight to a furious Gladio pacing his apartment and Ignis sitting at the table, face mostly unreadable except for the set of his mouth. It was an expression that told him he needed to think carefully about what he did next.

But despite what every security briefing had told him, there really was only one correct course of action here.

“Let him go and I’ll go with you.”

“That’s not how this works, _Highness_.” He sneered the title. “You come with us and we bring him along to make sure you cooperate.”

Noctis knew how it worked. He’d been kidnapped a few times before, though the Crownsguard usually got to him before his assailants had even sent out ransom demands. He knew how it worked, because nobody who had ever been taken with him had survived. As soon as he was subdued and brought to wherever it was the kidnappers wanted him, they were deemed unnecessary and killed. It was simply luck that Gladio or Ignis had never been taken with him, and the fact that they had thwarted the few attempts that had been made while he was with them.

If he allowed this man to take both him and Ignis, chances were high that Ignis would not survive, and that was something that Noctis could not allow. Enough people had died for him already.

“No.” He let his magic build a little more. He wondered if Ignis could feel it gathering around him the way Noctis could when one of his friends drew on it. He would have to ask later, when they weren’t so busy.

“Noctis…” Ignis’s eyes were pained.

“I don’t think you’re understanding me. I will _kill_ him -”

“And then you will have to fight me with no distractions, and I don’t think you’ve ever dealt with an angry Lucis Caelum or you would realize how bad of an idea that is.”

There. In his agitation, the man had shifted slightly to the side, exposing some of his chest. It was the best he was going to get. Noctis spared a thought for how much guilt Ignis would feel if he died in front of him. Then he loosed his magic.

He was throwing the dagger before it even fully manifested in his hands. He caught up to it in the space of a blink as it sank into the right side of the man’s chest, just under his collarbone. The force of the impact knocked them all to the ground.

Noctis kicked out as they landed, trying to knock the gun away. He was dimly aware of Ignis rolling away from them, the pull of magic as a weapon was removed from the Armiger. He yanked the dagger out of the man in a spray of blood, preparing to drive it back down into his throat.

A knee to his stomach, and the air was driven out of his lungs. Noctis fell back, gasping. He lost his grip on the dagger. The man gave him no time to recover. He scrambled on top of him, pinning him down with a hand wrapped around his throat and brought the gun up.

There was no oxygen. There was a void in his chest like stasis, but it _hurt_. His lungs spasmed. He kicked his legs, trying unsuccessfully to catch any part of the man’s body.

Then Ignis was there, and the man was not, and Noctis could breathe again. He noticed for the first time that Ignis was limping as he positioned himself between Noctis and the man, flames licking along the blades of his twin daggers.

Noctis dragged himself to his feet, summoning the Engine Blade. Breathing was still difficult, and each shift of fabric against his throat reminded him of fingers wrapped around it, but he was not going to let Ignis fight alone, especially if he was injured.

“Stay back, Highness,” Ignis murmured, putting an arm out to stop Noctis from stepping up to his side.

“You should have come quietly,” the would-be kidnapper said. Then he raised his gun and fired.

Noctis screamed as the first bullet punched into Ignis’s chest. He wasn’t fast enough to avoid the second one entirely. It grazed his side as he warped, but his aim was true. The Engine Blade drove through the man’s chest with a sickening crunch of ribs, punctuated by Noctis’s scream of rage. He ripped the blade out to the side as they fell, tearing through more of the man’s body, sending a spray of blood across the pavement. They landed hard, Noctis on top. He brought his sword up one more time and drove it down into the man’s neck, neatly severing his head.

Noctis rolled off the body, banishing his sword. His breath was coming in ragged gasps and his side burned. He had been shot…

_Ignis!_

His own injuries forgotten, Noctis warped to Ignis’s side. His advisor was lying still, too still, and there was so much blood. Too much blood. But his chest was still moving. He was still breathing. Noctis gasped in relief.

“Ignis!” No response.

It took Noctis a moment to find the entry wound. He pressed a hand over it. It was too low on the chest to have hit his heart, but it had probably punctured a lung. There was blood on Ignis’s lips.

“Iggy, hang on. Stay with me.” When had he started crying?

He pulled a potion from the Armiger, praying that it would be enough. He broke it over Ignis’s chest, watching in horrible anticipation as Ignis’s breathing strengthened and evened out.

Noctis sobbed, covering his mouth with a bloody hand, when Ignis’s eyes finally fluttered open. His face instantly contorted with pain, and Noctis stopped him from trying to sit up.

“Noct, are you alright?” Of bloody course his first thought would be Noctis’s safety.

“I’m fine.” His side was burning, he could feel blood seeping into his ruined clothes, and his throat ached. “Rest, Iggy. You were shot.”

“Is he dead?”

Noctis nodded. “I killed him.” Well, he’d done a bit more than that. Bile rose in his throat at the memory. He’d gone a bit too far.

“Good.” Ignis relaxed.

It took Noctis another moment to realize he should probably call Gladio. And another moment after that to notice that Ignis was probably uncomfortable with his head on the hard ground. Taking his jacket off to use as a pillow was not an option, as it would reveal that he too had been shot, so he moved to cradle Ignis’s head in his lap, waiting until he heard the sirens in the distance.

**Author's Note:**

> I was very clearly picturing Versus!Noctis from the very first trailer for this one.
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr at [prince-noctisluciscaelum](https://prince-noctisluciscaelum.tumblr.com)!


End file.
